Cast Iron Stories

Edward Lee
Executive Chef, 610 Magnolia
Louisville, Kentucky

When I first took the helm at 610 Magnolia, I didn’t have an apartment, so I set up a bedroom in the office. That summer, Louisville was hit with a locust swarm that was so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think. I couldn’t sleep because of the noise, so I decided to clean out the attic. It was full of old cooking tools. There were antique mandolines and copper pans warped beyond use. But underneath a pile of rusty tart pans was a gigantic cast-iron pan the size of a truck tire. Although it was orange from rust and covered in cobwebs, I could still feel the weight, the history, and the potential in this pan. I spent the whole night cleaning and oiling it, and by the morning I had it in the kitchen. The pan was so big it covered two burners on the stove, so heavy your wrist would break if you tried to lift it with one hand, and so full of history you could almost smell it as it warmed up. I still use the pan all the time.

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